Rahul Gandhi leads opposition march to Gandhi Smriti, sings national anthem in protest against lathicharge on students

Ten Opposition parties join INDIA bloc leaders on foot and by bus from Rahul Gandhi’s residence to Gandhi Smriti, lighting mobile torches in solidarity with protesting students

NewsArc Bureau | New Delhi

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, along with leaders of ten Opposition parties, marched from his residence to Gandhi Smriti in New Delhi on Thursday evening, protesting against the police lathicharge on students demonstrating over the NEET paper-leak issue.

Gandhi was joined by leaders from Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Trinamool Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Left parties, Samajwadi Party and the Indian Union Muslim League as part of the INDIA bloc show of solidarity.

“WE ARE WITH THE STUDENTS”: RAHUL

Speaking at the site, Gandhi said the Opposition had taken to the streets because students themselves were out demonstrating. “We are remembering the students we have lost because of the paper leak. Our students are on the streets, so all Opposition MPs felt we too should come out onto the streets,” he said.

He further alleged that the Modi government was “murdering democracy” in the country, drawing a link to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi at the same site. “Our leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated here. Today, the Modi government is murdering democracy in India, oppressing students and beating them. The Opposition will not accept this. We stand with the students. Narendra Modi will have to remove the Education Minister and apologise,” Gandhi said.

MARCH ROUTE BLOCKED, THEN CLEARED

Before the march, Opposition MPs held a meeting at Gandhi’s Sunehri Bagh residence, where Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force had already stationed personnel, buses and barricades. As the march began, the group’s path was briefly blocked before being cleared roughly ten minutes later. Gandhi said MPs had initially wanted to head to India Gate but were stopped, following which they decided to proceed to Gandhi Smriti, about 750 metres from his residence, where the bus carrying the leaders was again halted.

On reaching the site, Gandhi and the accompanying MPs lit their mobile phone torches and sang the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana,” before paying tribute and dispersing. RJD MP Manoj Jha said the movement had “now become a mass agitation.”

Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury criticised the government’s silence, saying, “Why should we explain anything to such a stubborn government — have they ever been to Gandhi Smriti? This government doesn’t have the courage to come out and talk.”

BACKGROUND

The march comes two days after Gandhi held a nearly 40-minute press conference at Indira Bhawan in Delhi on Wednesday, where he played videos of students who took part in the Cockroach Janta Party’s march to Parliament on 20th July, and alleged that the NEET paper leak had affected 7.5 crore students and their families across the country, with no accountability fixed in the case. On Thursday morning, Gandhi had also alleged on social media platform X that the Prime Minister was personally responsible for what he called the destruction of the country’s education system, describing the announcement of fast-track courts as an attempt to cover up the crisis.

Thursday’s demonstration follows days of escalating tension at the Jantar Mantar protest site, where Cockroach Janta Party supporters have been camped since early June demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper-leak controversy. Police used batons and tear gas to disperse a “Sansad Chalo” march by protesters on 20th July, leaving several demonstrators and police personnel injured. The Union Home Ministry had also ordered a temporary suspension of mobile internet services in a 1.5-km radius around Jantar Mantar for several hours on Thursday, citing public order concerns.

This is also not the first such Opposition show of strength at the site: on 21st July, on the occasion of Mallikarjun Kharge’s birthday, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi had led Congress leaders on a similarly low-key march to the Prime Minister’s residence, where they staged a two-hour sit-in.

Gandhi Smriti, the venue of Thursday’s protest, was formerly known as Birla House, where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on 30th January, 1948, while walking to a prayer meeting. The site continues to preserve Gandhi’s final footsteps and the spot where he was shot.

(This is a developing story. NewsArc India will update this report as further details emerge.)